Chinese Women Victorious in Universiade Performance

The day after the Chinese men’s program took home the team gold medal at the Summer Universiade in Chengdu, the women’s team repeated the feat, earning a 163.029 to finish more than two points ahead of Japan.

Led by 2020 Olympian Ou Yushan, who topped the all-around field with a 55.198, the team included a mix of current world championships contenders and veterans, including her Tokyo teammate Zhang Jin, who contributed strong scores on beam and floor, 2018 world bronze medalist Luo Huan, who had her best performance in years to qualify in fourth place with a 53.766, and world cup medalist Du Siyu, who had the team’s best score on bars with a 14.366 to qualify first into the final.

The biggest surprise here was two-time world bars medalist Wei Xiaoyuan missing both her bars and beam routines, with bars especially shocking after she hit four strong routines at nationals in May. Unfortunately, this means we won’t see her in any individual finals here, though I doubt it will affect her chances at making the worlds team.

Japan’s star athlete, Miyata Shoko, led her team to the silver medal with a 54.600 in the all-around, while her 2022 worlds teammate Sakaguchi Ayaka also had an excellent day, qualifying in third with a 54.198. Both athletes contributed all four of their scores into the team’s total of 160.663 in addition to qualifying into all four individual finals, an incredible feat that should result in a sweet medal haul for the Japanese program.

Also on the team for Japan were bars standout Fukasawa Kokoro, who unfortunately had a miss on that event here, vault and floor specialist Ushioku Kohane, who was strong in her second-ever international competition after making her world cup debut earlier this year, and Hatakeda Chiaki, who competed in the all-around with especially good work on vault and floor, with the latter counting toward the team total.

The fight for the bronze medal was always going to be a toss-up between a few of the remaining teams here, especially as most generally strong programs opted to send athletes who don’t typically earn international assignments, especially Germany and South Korea. In the end, it was Spain that landed on the podium with a 146.431, led by 2022 worlds team member Maia Llacer, who was also Spain’s top all-arounder with a 50.699 to qualify to the final in sixth place. The team struggled a bit on beam, but put up the third-best overall floor score of the meet and generally looked great, especially considering they only brought four competitors. Making the all-around final along with Llacer was this year’s national beam silver medalist Lorena Medina, who also made the vault and floor finals, while Llacer made bars and floor.

Taiwan came within half of a point of the podium with a 145.928 with a team that included 2020 Olympian Ting Hua-Tien and the super experienced Lai Pin-Ju, who was the team’s best all-around with a 48.732 for 10th place, while Ting had a miss on her best event, beam, though still managed to qualify into the all-around final with a 47.732 for 13th place.

Rounding out the top eight were South Korea in fifth with a 144.096, with Lee Dayeong – the most internationally recognizable athlete on the team – finishing ninth all-around with a 49.599; Germany in sixth with a 142.697 (2016 Olympic medalist Sophie Scheder had the fourth-best bars score in the competition, but unfortunately had three falls on beam); Finland in seventh with a 135.396; and Slovenia in eighth with a 100.331 (this team only put up two scores on every event but bars, thus the low score).

The top individual all-rounders in the competition included Tisha Volleman of the Netherlands in seventh with a 50.599, Bianca Frysak of Austria in eighth with a 49.865, and Dominika Ponizilova of Czechia in 12th with a 47.832. All three should be top contenders for their countries’ worlds teams this year, so it was nice seeing them get some extra experience here, especially as they each made all-around and apparatus finals (Volleman on bars and floor, Frysak on beam, and Ponizilova on vault). Another standout was Barbora Mokosova of Slovakia, who competed only two events, but performed brilliantly on bars and beam to reach both finals.

The complete team final ranking is below, as are the lists of the all-around and apparatus final qualifiers (italicized athletes are not eligible to compete in the finals due to the two-per-country limitations).

Team Final Results

1. China 163.029
2. Japan 160.663
3. Spain 146.431
4. Taiwan 145.928
5. South Korea 144.096
6. Germany 142.697
7. Finland 135.396
8. Slovenia 100.331

All-Around Qualification Results

1. Ou Yushan, China, 55.198
2. Miyata Shoko, Japan, 54.600
3. Sakaguchi Ayaka, Japan, 54.198
4. Luo Huan, China, 53.766
5. Hatakeda Chiaki, Japan, 50.932
6. Maia Llacer, Spain, 50.699
7. Tisha Volleman, Netherlands, 50.599
8. Bianca Frysak, Austria, 49.865
9. Lee Dayeong, South Korea, 49.599
10. Lai Pin-Ju, Taiwan, 48.732
11. Lorena Medina, Spain, 48.700
12. Dominika Ponizilova, Czechia, 47.832
13. Ting Hua-Tien, Taiwan, 47.732
14. Yun Boeun, South Korea, 47.499
15. Lin Yi-Chen, Taiwan, 47.298
16. Aiyu Zhu, Germany, 47.264
17. Elisabeth Wagner, Germany, 47.100
18. Irene Calle, Spain, 46.732
19. Ilayda Sahin, Türkiye, 46.365
20. Bilge Tarhan, Türkiye, 45.932
21. Amanda Edwards, Australia, 45.831

R1. Sara King, Slovenia, 45.765
R2. Lara Demarsico, Argentina, 45.398
R3. Sara Loikas, Finland, 45.132
R4. Malla Montell, Finland, 44.666

Vault Qualification Results

1. Miyata Shoko, Japan, 13.866
2. Sakaguchi Ayaka, Japan, 13.683
3. Ushioku Kohane, Japan, 13.416
4. Dominika Ponizilova, Czechia, 12.866
5. Kim Seohyeon, South Korea, 12.833
6. Bilge Tarhan, Türkiye, 12.783
7. Wu Sing-Fen, Taiwan, 12.716
8. Lorena Medina, Spain, 12.650
9. Lai Pin-Ju, Taiwan, 12.566

R1. Gulnaz Jumabekova, Uzbekistan, 12.533
R2. Maia Llacer, Spain, 12.516
R3. Meta Kunaver, Slovenia, 12.316

Uneven Bars Qualification Results

1. Du Siyu, China, 14.366
2. Luo Huan, China, 14.200
3. Ou Yushan, China, 14.166
4. Sophie Scheder, Germany, 13.733
5. Barbora Mokosova, Slovakia, 13.333
6. Miyata Shoko, Japan, 13.300
7. Tisha Volleman, Netherlands, 13.233
8. Sakaguchi Ayaka, Japan, 13.200
9. Wei Xiaoyuan, China, 13.166
10. Maia Llacer, Spain, 12.800

R1. Bianca Frysak, Austria, 12.466
R2. Elisabeth Wagner, Germany, 12.400
R3. Yun Boeun, South Korea, 12.300

Balance Beam Qualification Results

1. Ou Yushan, China, 14.200
2. Miyata Shoko, Japan, 13.800
3. Luo Huan, China, 13.700
4. Sakaguchi Ayaka, Japan, 13.666
5. Zhang Jin, China, 13.333
6. Fukasawa Kokoro, Japan, 12.900
7. Lee Dayeong, South Korea, 12.766
8. Wu Sing-Fen, Taiwan, 12.666
9. Wei Xiaoyuan, China, 12.566
10. Bianca Frysak, Austria, 12.433
11. Barbora Mokosova, Slovakia, 12.433

R1. Maia Llacer, Spain, 12.300
R2. Tisha Volleman, Netherlands, 12.233
R3. Lin Yi-Chen, Taiwan, 11.866

Floor Exercise Qualification Results

1. Ou Yushan, China, 13.766
2. Miyata Shoko, Japan, 13.500
3. Sakaguchi Ayaka, Japan, 13.266
4. Zhang Jin, China, 13.266
5. Hatakeda Chiaki, Japan, 12.966
6. Ushioku Kohane, Japan, 12.866
7. Luo Huan, China, 12.666
8. Maia Llacer, Spain, 12.533
9. Tisha Volleman, Netherlands, 12.433
10. Lee Dayeong, South Korea, 12.400
11. Lorena Medina, Spain, 12.400

R1. Bianca Frysak, Austria, 12.266
R2. Lai Pin-Ju, Taiwan, 12.233
R3. Ting Hua-Tien, Taiwan, 12.133

-----------------------

By: Lauren
Title: Chinese Women Victorious in Universiade Performance
Sourced From: thegymter.net/2023/08/03/chinese-women-victorious-in-universiade-performance/
Published Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2023 23:38:32 +0000